May 16, 2023

A Vastly Different Approach to Space Stations (Source: Space Review)
A new startup jumped into the race last week to develop commercial space stations. Jeff Foust reports on Vast’s plans to launch a single-module station as soon as 2025 in cooperation with SpaceX. Click here. (5/16)
 
Congress Must Reject the Defense Department’s Hope-Based Strategy in Space (Source: Space Review)
Defense Department officials frequently point out the threat that China poses to American space assets. Christopher Stone argues, though, that those officials aren’t taking the right approach to dealing with that threat. Click here. (5/16)
 
Falcon Heavy to the Rescue (Source: Space Review)
While SpaceX’s Starship may one day be successful, it could take some time. Ajay Kothari describes how the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket could be used to send large payloads to the Moon, keeping Artemis on track. Click here. (5/16)

Sales Rocket for Zenno's Fuel-Free Satellite Pointing System (Source: Space Daily)
Zenno Astronautics has surpassed $75M in product sales for its world-first superconducting magnetorquer for spacecraft attitude control, the Z01. Built on Zenno's proprietary superconducting magnet technology, Z01 is a fuel-free satellite pointing system designed to significantly increases the range of capabilities for attitude control in space, including fully autonomous satellite positioning and extended satellite orbit time. (5/16)

DoD Adds Launch to Astra Contract (Source: Astra)
Astra Space has been awarded a launch contract add-on for Rocket 4’s first test flight with DoD, facilitated by the Defense Innovation Unit. This award is an add-on to Astra’s existing contract with the DIU. Rocket 4 is designed for a nominal payload capacity of approximately 600 kilograms to a 500 km mid-inclination orbit. The first launch is intended to test the overall operations of Launch System 2, collect flight data prior to re-commencing commercial flight operations, and ensure that Rocket 4 will support future DoD mission requirements. (5/16)

Space Force Sees No Significant Pushback From Congress for FY-24 Budget (Source: Space News)
A top Space Force general says the service has not gotten any "significant pushback" from Congress about its fiscal year 2024 budget proposal. Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations, said at an industry event Monday that Congress has been broadly supportive of plans such as building large constellations of communications and missile-tracking satellites. He noted that the war in Ukraine showed the value of such constellations, including their resilience: "I don't think it takes a space expert to have watched what has unfolded in Ukraine to see the value, benefit and resilience of commercial constellations." The Space Force is seeking $30 billion in 2024, nearly $4 billion more than what it received for 2023. (5/16)

Axiom Has Only Two Opportunities for ISS Launch (Source: Space News)
SpaceX and Axiom Space will have only two chances to launch a private astronaut mission to the International Space Station this month. The companies, along with NASA, completed a flight readiness review Monday for the Ax-2 mission, allowing plans to proceed for a launch May 21. NASA said that the mission must launch by May 22 or else they will stand down in order to keep a cargo Dragon mission on schedule for launch in early June. If that happens, Ax-2 could be delayed for months based on the schedule for the cargo Dragon mission, a Starliner test flight and a new ISS crew launch planned through the summer. Axiom also agreed to shorten the Ax-2 mission from 10 days to 8 to fit it into the schedule. (5/16)

Momentus and Astra Running Low on Cash (Source: Space News)
Two space startups that went public through SPAC deals are warning they are running low on cash. Astra and Momentus included in recent SEC filings "going concern" warnings stating that there is doubt they can remain in business for the next year based on their available cash. Momentus reported last week a first-quarter loss of $20.8 million with $39 million in cash and equivalents on hand. Astra announced Monday it had a first-quarter loss of $44.9 million with $62.7 million of cash and equivalents remaining. Both companies said in earnings calls they were working to extend their remaining runway by reducing expenses and generating more revenue, while looking for additional financing. (5/16)

Final Ariane 5 to Set for Launch in June (Source: Arianespace)
The final Ariane 5 is scheduled to launch in a month. Arianespace said Monday it is targeting June 16 for the last Ariane 5 launch. It will carrying the Syracuse 4B communications satellite, built by Airbus for the French military, and Heinrich-Hertz, a communications satellite built by OHB for the German space agency DLR. (5/16)

Alabama Abortion Law Threatens Space Command HQ Relocation (Source: NBC)
The White House is considering using Alabama's new abortion law as grounds for not moving Space Command headquarters to the state. White House sources said the law, which bans nearly all abortions, has become a factor in whether to locate the command's headquarters at Redstone Arsenal, the choice of the Trump administration in its final weeks in office. Those officials argue there would be "operational disruptions" by moving the command to Alabama from its current temporary headquarters in Colorado. The White House did not confirm the report, but it prompted sharp criticism from Alabama's congressional delegation. (5/16)

Space Force Chief Seeks Change to Mission Statement (Source: Politico)
The general in charge of the Space Force is not enamored with its mission statement. In a memo Monday, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said he had "some concerns" with the mission statement, developed just after the service was established in late 2019. He said the statement focuses too much on the "organize, train and equip" aspects of the service and not its role in deterring aggression or protecting U.S. interests. "Additionally, our current mission statement is long and cumbersome. We can do better," he wrote. He asked guardians to offer their own proposals for a new mission statement. (5/16)

Rocket Lab to Launch More TROPICS Satellites for NASA (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab will launch the second pair of NASA storm-monitoring cubesats early next week. The company said Monday it set the Electron launch for the two TROPICS cubesats for Monday at 1:30 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. They will join two others launched on another Electron May 7. The four satellites will form a constellation that will be able to monitor the formation and growth of tropical storm systems with a revisit time of an hour. (5/16)

Enter Outer Space at Your Own Risk? (Source: Space News)
If you pay a company like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, or Boeing to go into space, perhaps even perform your own spacewalk, should those companies be bound by safety regulations issued by the FAA? Currently, the answer is “no,” thanks to a law that bans federal regulation of commercial space enterprises. As a result, individuals who choose to go to space, and the general public, may not have sufficient information to reasonably assess the safety of commercial spaceflight. It’s time to allow the moratorium on regulation to expire and allow the development of safety standards, led by the FAA.

Since 2004, federal law has barred most participant safety regulations and leaves nearly all issues of safety procedures, equipment, and standards for commercial spaceflight participants like amateur astronauts up to the discretion of the company providing the service. As a result, companies voluntarily determine and choose to apply safety standards that they deem appropriate. These include basic, critical safety aspects like when passengers should be strapped into the vehicle’s cabin, when they should wear pressurized suits in case of a loss of oxygen and what risk tolerance for serious injury or death they might encounter.

On Oct. 1, 2023, the moratorium on federal regulation is set to expire. RAND was asked by Congress to assess the state of the development of voluntary safety standards led primarily by industry in coordination with private standards development organizations and the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee. RAND was also asked to assess if commercial spaceflight is ready for government regulation. One significant finding that drove our conclusions is that the current state of participant safety is largely unknowable because sufficient data and information are not available. Three factors contribute to this lack of transparency. Click here. (5/16)

Virgin Orbit Receives More Than 30 Indications of Interest, Some Would Preserve Operations (Source: Space Daily)
Virgin Orbit, as part of its court-approved bid procedures, has received more than 30 indications of interest. Several potential buyers have proposed to retain the existing business operations and workforce, aiming to operate Virgin Orbit as an ongoing, integrated enterprise. Company CEO Dan Hart commented on the development. Hart also expressed his readiness to continue working with interested parties as the process moves toward the final bid deadline later this month. (5/15)

AIA, NASA Agree to Inspire Future Workforce (Source: Aerospace Manufacturing & Design)
Built on the shared interest in attracting diverse groups of students to science, technology. engineering, and math (STEM) and aerospace, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) signed a Space Act Agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to inspire the next generation of aerospace and STEM professionals. The agreement will enable AIA to expand upon its award-winning American Rocketry Challenge program to create opportunities that broaden student participation in aerospace and provide connections to NASA’s Artemis program and other NASA missions.

The partnership’s first initiative will launch in Summer 2023 and engage second through sixth grade students from historically excluded backgrounds in STEM to the field of aerospace through a pilot program developed for clubs and summer camps. As part of the agreement, NASA experts will meet with students to share technical rocketry expertise, career advice, STEM education lessons, and resources. (5/13)

NASA Readies for Second All-Private Mission to ISS (Source: Digital Trends)
NASA, in partnership with Axiom Space and SpaceX, is making final preparations for the second all-private mission to the ISS. The four Ax-2 crewmembers will travel to the station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Mission planners are currently targeting the afternoon of Sunday, May 21, for the launch of the private mission. (5/11)

Sidus Space Reports Financial Results (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space revenue increased to $2,263,627 for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, compared to $1,799,335 for the same period in 2022. Revenue growth of 26% is primarily attributable to more than doubling satellite revenue, as this segment of the business begins to mature. Gross profit was $895,799, or 40%, for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, impacted by contract mix, increased materials purchases, and continued supply chain impacts.

Total Operating Expenses increased to $3,542,169 for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 from $3,242,783 for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 primarily as a result of increased headcount as we scale our business. As of March 31, 2023, the Company had $2.8 million in cash. (5/15)

Astra Reports Financial Results (Source: Astra)
For the three months ended March 31, Astra reported gross profit of $0 million, net loss of $44.9 million, capital expenditures of $5 million, and $62.7 million in cash and equivalents on-hand. (5/15)

Italy Awards $256 Million Contract for 2026 in-Orbit Servicing Mission (Source: Space News)
Italy’s space agency has awarded local companies 235 million euros ($256 million) in pandemic relief funds for an in-orbit servicing demo in 2026, the group’s leader Thales Alenia Space announced May 15. Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales of France and Leonardo of Italy, said the group is contracted to design, develop, and qualify a spacecraft for performing a range of autonomous robotic operations on satellites already in low Earth orbit.

The company did not disclose these satellites or specifics about the mission, but said the servicer would have a dexterous robotic arm and test capabilities that include refueling, component repair or replacement, orbital transfer, and atmospheric reentry. Leonardo is providing the robotic arm, developed with SAB Aerospace, the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, and the Italian Institute of Technology. Spaceflight services company Telespazio and rocket builder Avio are also part of the consortium, along with D-Orbit, the space tug specialist that completed its first commercial mission in late 2020. (5/15)

Company Proposes to Rescue Deactivated Spitzer Telescope (Source: Ars Technica)
In January 2020, after more than 16 years of service, the Spitzer Space Telescope was deactivated—consigned to drift in a heliocentric orbit until the Sun's fiery expansion at the end of its life a few billion years from now. A small space technology company, Rhea Space Activity, says it has a plan to resurrect Spitzer. Last week the firm said it won a $250,000 grant from the US Space Force to continue studying a robotic rescue mission for the spacecraft, which is now about two astronomical units—or twice the distance of Earth from the Sun—away.

The plan is rather audacious, but it has some serious backers, including the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Blue Sun Enterprises, and Lockheed Martin. The "Spitzer Resurrector" mission would be a small spacecraft that could fit into a 1-meter-by-1-meter box and be ready to launch as soon as 2026, Usman said. It would then take about three years to cruise to the telescope, during which time the spacecraft will make observations of solar flaring. (5/15)

COPUOS Needs a Different Approach to Decision Making (Source: Space News)
The space ecosystem has been undergoing considerable change in recent decades except for one crucial area — the international governance of space. The space industry is growing rapidly, as are space domain challenges like space debris or lacking norms of behavior. Yet, the international governance needed to address these changes and ensure space is developed sustainably — because space sustainability is business sustainability — remains largely stagnant.

The problem is that the forum charged with advancing international space governance, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), can’t advance the governance necessary to meet the needs of today’s space sector. To fix the problem, COPUOS needs to rethink its approach to consensus decision-making. 

For COPUOS, the goal should be to change its approach to consensus decision-making, not abandon its pursuit of consensus. The way the forum uses consensus is unique. It’s required at just about every stage in the diplomatic process: from modifying the agenda to advancing a governance measure from inception to adoption. To achieve consensus, COPUOS members do not typically vote but instead, voice objections if they disagree with the item under discussion. For decisions requiring consensus, a single objection from any member can stall the process. The forum’s strict decision-making style is a major reason why it has failed to keep pace with space governance needs. (5/15)